NERVE review

The premise is simple enough. People decide if they want to be a watcher or player of Nerve, performing increasingly stupid and dangerous tasks to gain money and followers until they're the last one standing.

Emma Roberts stars as Vee, a shy teenager who is too scared to approach the boy she likes at school and takes a passive role in life. When she is embarrassed by her Nerve playing friend Sydney (Emily Meade), Vee decides to sign up to Nerve as a player, quickly hooking up Ian (Dave Franco) a player with a mysterious past whose daredevil antics have seen him end up near the top of the leaderboard.

Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman who gave us the original Catfish film and later directed some of the Paranormal Activity sequels, this film unsurprisingly taps into a world where everything is documented on cameras and phones and put onto the Internet.

Tapping into that thirst for fame through exhibitionism that defines the snapchat generation, it's here that Nerve finds its strongest element. There's something that feels so very current about this film that even in this fantastical reality where things can shift from having no consequences to deadly consequences, Nerve barely seems like fiction. It's completely plausible that some of these stunts could happen, and that there would be people with camera phones lining the streets eager to document it and prove they were there when it happened.

It's not all about adrenaline junkies and exhibitionists, though. Whereas Limitless posited the idea that we only use 10% of our brains, Nerve finds its narrative by using the same statistics about the Internet. The shadowy world of the 'dark web' is casually explored here, digging into the sinister motives behind the entire Nerve game. The film also attempts to throw shade at the anonymity of the Internet, with some degree of success at highlighting the problems that give cause to issues such as Gamergate.

Largely the success of the film can be attributed to its two leads, as Emma Roberts and Dave Franco are an extremely likeable pairing that you want to see succeed. Both actors have previously been weighed down by familial expectations (a headline on Vee's laptop screen cheekily asks, "is James Franco too smart?"), but both are quickly coming into their own as charming and successful movie stars.

Liberally borrowing elements from The Running Man, The Game and Limitless (with a bit of Hackers thrown in), Nerve nevertheless manages to be a consistently entertaining romp through NYC.

Verdict

3.5/5

SCRE4M BLU-RAY review

The long awaited return of the Scream franchise arrives on DVD and Blu-ray this week. Read my review and check out what the Blu-ray extras have to offer, next...

SCRE4M review

The long awaited next installment into Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's Scream franchise is now in cinemas. Watch the trailer and read my review, next...

SCREAM 4 - Still Sticking To That Same Old Formula

Just arriving on the interwebs, this should be the last poster released for Scream 4, as it's a few mere weeks away from release. It's the first one to feature any of the cast members, both new and returning, and even Ghostface gets a character shot elevated above the newbies. They've been a bit heavy with the airbrush on David Arquette's face (he looks like a pewter figurine), and they've done that annoying thing of using photos of the cast looking nothing like they do in the actual film.

 

Once again there's some actors on the poster that may not feature too heavily in the film (I didn't even know Adam Brody was in this one), and I'll take a guess that at least one of these people will be dead before the opening credits start. It's a potential spoiler that may not be accurate (I'm totally guessing), but why is Emma Roberts billed before Hayden Panettiere in an otherwise alphabetical cast list? Perhaps Ms. Panettiere doesn't feature that heavily?


I might be right about that, and I might be wrong. It's a real shame they've not chosen to do anything different with the marketing campaign for this new installment, as I think it reflects poorly on the film. Yes it ties it all in with the original trilogy of films, but if this was supposed to breathe new life into the franchise it's going about it the wrong way.


It's a worldwide release so at least we get to find out how dies first at the same time the Yanks do. Roll on April 15th.

SCREAM 4 trailer review

Now officially available to view after the leaked copy was removed from the internet by the movie police, this new trailer gives us clues to how they're going to reincarnate Ghostface and the Scream franchise.

Check out the trailer, next...

SCREAM 4 trailer review

There's been a crappy copy floating around the internet for a couple of days, but here's a proper version of the new teaser trailer for Wes Craven's Scream 4 (or Scre4m if you want to be more accurate).

Back in 1996 I was a massive fan of the original film. It may seem a bit tame now, but I consider that my introduction to the horror genre. Don't judge me, I was young. I also enjoyed the second installment for all its intertextuality, but the third film was terrible, both in idea and execution.

The first thing I'd note is that this new film seems very much like a continuation of the first three. The bad guy's exactly the same, it's the same director and most of the original cast is back. As for my opinion of the trailer? Meh. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see the new installment, but all this trailer shows me is the new cast members. Kristen Bell, Hayden Panetierre, Emma Roberts...they're just there, they don't do anything.

It is reassuring to see all of the familiar faces (including Ghostface), but I'm pretty sure at least one of them isn't going to make it to after the opening credits. Don't look too closely as I think this trailer shows the death of one of those familiar faces. Of course, with a new Scream film comes a whole new set of rules, and it's up to Rory Culkin and Erik Knudsen to dispense them. You can tell they're the nerds, one has long hair and the other is wearing a headset.

The trailer keeps pointing out that they'll have to appeal to a new audience with new tricks, but from what I've seen here they're sticking to what they know. It's only a teaser so we'll see more before the April 2011 release date, but as a taste of things to come, I'm not completely sold on it yet.

Release Date April 2011
Anticipation Level

SLACKER trailer review

Trailers are an important tool in building buzz and anticipation for films. A good trailer can sell a bad movie, a bad trailer can kill a good movie. Here we try and tell the difference between the two and pick out the most anticipated new films.

More after the jump...